Montreal’s extended CRE boom centre-stage at ULI Toronto

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Office, Retail, Apartments, Condominiums, Investment  •  Greater Montreal

Montreal has recorded the highest gross domestic product growth and lowest unemployment rate in Canada, which has at least been partially driven by a 20-year bull run in the commercial real estate market.

T.O.’s Forma will be tallest Gehry-designed tower

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Great Gulf, Dream Unlimited (DRM-T), Dream Impact Trust (MPCT-UN-T) and Westdale Properties announced their newest mixed-use, 73- and 84-storey tower development designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry will be known as Forma. It will include 2,034 condominiums, commercial and retail space.

Magna opening $50M-plus plant in Chatham

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Canadian auto parts giant Magna International (MG-T), which has two plants in nearby St. Thomas, will open a $50-million-plus facility in Chatham, Ont., that will employ about 150 to make battery enclosures for an electric version of Ford’s F-150.

Chartwell selling Ontario LTC portfolio for $446.5M

RENX  Residential  •  Seniors Housing  •  National

Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH-UN-T) will divest 17 of its Ontario long-term-care residences, comprising 2,418 beds, to AgeCare Health Services Inc. and Axium Infrastructure Inc. for $446.5 million, the seniors housing and care provider announced Thursday.

Rimap to open first Moxy hotel in Ottawa

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Rimap Hospitality, the Montreal-based firm that owns Major Building, a historic ByWard Market building property at 126 York St. in Ottawa, said this week it has signed a deal with Marriott International to open a 222-room Moxy hotel.

Port Moody land assembly stalled for nine years

Residential  •  Western Investor

In Port Moody, B.C., 59 owners of single-family houses in the Coronation Park neighbourhood are hoping that, nine years after the city designated the area for high-density development, city council may finally decide April 5 on a proposed development.

Sponsored by FCT The real value of commercial title insurance

Property owners and lenders often ask their legal professionals why they should be getting a title insurance policy. After all, haven’t they been relying on a title opinion all these years? Why change now?

Daycare space an emerging office tower amenity

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver  •  RENX

While designing a new six-storey office tower at 3353 Cambie St. in Vancouver, Radiant City Architecture made sure to include a private childcare facility with 24 spaces. The complex, at the centre of the Cambie Village shopping district, starts construction this year.

Mtl. weighs exemption for 20-storey condo building

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette

Montreal’s Sud-Ouest borough is preparing to grant a zoning exemption to Omnia Technologies to build a 295-unit, 20-storey condo building in spite of the area’s eight-storey maximum height. Omnia said it has financial backing from Claridge IC and Ivanhoé Cambridge.

CF holds ‘Town Hall’ meeting over dev. freeze

Residential, Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

The gloves are off in Pointe-Claire between developer Cadillac Fairview and Mayor Tim Thomas over a temporary development freeze. On Wednesday night, Cadillac Fairview upped the ante by holding its own ‘Town Hall’ meeting at the Fairview shopping centre.

Real Estate with Howard Drukarsh › Podcast: Luxury RE agent James Warren, with Howard Drukarsh

Howard Drukarsh: Host, Real Estate with Howard Drukarsh

Latest Sustainable Biz Canada headlines

Residential, Commercial  • 

Shopify buys 50,000 tonnes of carbon offsets
Creative Energy drilling Minto’s first geothermal system
Razor, FutEra building 21MW Alberta geothermal plant

Owners giving up on older offices in high-cost cities

Commercial  •  Bisnow  •  Bloomberg  •  Commercial Property Executive

As migration patterns from high-cost markets to the Sun Belt have entrenched alongside attitudes around remote work, familiar, ominous music is playing for owners of older office buildings in Chicago and New York City.

Data centre leasing hits record level in N.A.: CBRE

Commercial  •  REMI Network

Large cloud service providers and social media companies are fuelling demand for North American data centres, as leasing reached record levels in 2021. Calgary is the only Canadian market currently creating a “buzz” says CBRE’s North American Data Center Trends Report.

Mall bookstores are coming back

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

Between 1991 and 2011, the U.S. lost 1,000 chain bookstores as national retailers shuttered their doors. However, with book sales booming during the pandemic, a resurgence of the brick-and-mortar bookstore is underway.

H.K. tycoons scoop up billions in Chinese property

Residential, Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Yahoo Finance  •  Bloomberg

Hong Kong’s property tycoons are swooping in on a rare opportunity to cherry-pick prime land and projects in mainland China, where a government squeeze on leverage and credit-market turmoil have triggered a record wave of defaults.

Plans unveiled to fix soaring Ontario housing prices

Residential  •  CBC  •  Toronto Star  •  Globe Newswire

Queen’s Park unveiled the first phase of its plan to deal with the skyrocketing cost of buying a home in Ontario, tabling a bill that takes aim at delays within planning at the municipal level.

Home prices under ‘full-scale attack’: BMO

Residential  •  Global News

The Bank of Canada’s path to rising interest rates coupled with new provincial taxes on non-resident buyers could send home prices down more than 10 per cent, according to Bank of Montreal senior economist Robert Kavcic.

Recreational house prices forecast to rise 13% in 2022

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  Toronto Star  •  CTV

The aggregate price of a single-family home in Canada’s recreational regions is forecast to increase 13 per cent in 2022 to $640,710, according to Royal LePage. Atlantic Canada and Quebec are forecast to see the highest price appreciation at 15 per cent. 

Vancouver five-acre land parcel available for $81M

Residential, Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

Three side-by-side Vancouver lots have been on the market since June 21, 2021 for a total of $80.7 million. The listing states if the three lots are purchased together as a 5.06-acre parcel, the buyer will have the potential to “apply for redevelopment.”